Paper sheet for loose leaf book pages



Hiy 2 Oct. 27, 1936. F."S. SCHADE 2,059,143

PAPER SHEET FOR LOOSE LEAF BOOK PAGES Filed Aug. 24, 1954 Fly. 3.

1 3/ INVENTOR v fRA/VK \ST/i/VLE) Sci/A05 BYJMM ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 27',

UNITED STATES ram-1a snaa'r FOR LOOSE LEAF noon PAGES Frank Stanley Schade, Holyoke, Mass., assignor to National Blank BookCompany, Holyoke, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application August 24,

' 6 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in paper sheets for loose leai book pages. such pages are commonly perforated at spaced points along the binding margin. The paper is frequently too thin and weak so that it tears loose at the binding holes. The plan of this invention is to improve the means for reenforcing the book pages at the binding holes and particularly with respect to thin weak sheets of paper.

In the prior art it is common to use perforated wafer reenforcements, particularly of cardboard and fabric, around the holes. The objection to this has been that when the sheets are piled into book formthe binding margin has been bulged out with the increased thickness due to the .re-

enforcements. It has been proposed to avoid this objection by embedding the wafer reenforcement within the normal thickness of the paper. One prior plan is to cut out a bed for the waferand another is to press eyelet rims into the paper so that in either case the top of the reenforcement is ilush with the paper. There are objections to either plan in the high cost, but a more serious objection is that the paper must be thick enough to take a wafer and embed it. The thicker the paper is the less need there is for reenforcing the binding holes. My problem arises from the desire to reenforce loose leaf pages that are too thin to embed the reenforcement, even if the cost and convenience of that method to avoid objectionable increase in thickne'ssmade it otherwise feasible.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a plan view and p Fig. 2 shows a section on line 2--2 of Fig. 1 of a loose leaf book page as it will lookwith its holes reenforced by my invention;

Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the sheet of Fig. 1;

Fig.1 shows a differently shaped reenforcement 4o wafer;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of .a portion of Fig. 2.

The invention is one that cannot be disclosed by a mere drawing as its more important characteristics are not clear except by description.

In the drawing,"the paper sheet I is intended to be of the inexpensive kind used for ordinary writing or loose leaf notebook paper. It is too thin as well as too cheap to take or warrant any expensive reentorcing means at the holes. My plan is to reenforce the paper at the factory before its distribution to the. trade and to do it so 'inexpensively as to keep the cost down. Thus. the low costreenforced paperpages can be generally sold in price competition with such paper that is not ll reenforced. The product of the invention is to 1934, Serial No. 741,242 (01. 129-1) render the present practice of ultimate users applying paper reenforcing wafers of linen and the like unnecessary and to give them better paper pages or fillers for loose leaf book use that will not bulge the book. 5

The first consideration, thereiore,-is to avoid the application of my reenforcing wafer or border 2 (at each binding hole) in a form that will appreciably increase the thickness at the points of application. To do this I conceived the plan of 10 making the wafers of metal and of a thickness so small as to be negligible, much as the nickelplated coating of a finished and previously dimensioned article does not appreciably change the wanted dimension.

So far as I know, it is not feasible to deposit a metal coating ,on paper as one would coat metal articles by electrolytic deposition. But his this kind of excessively thin metal coating that I want for the wafer or separate border of my paper re- 20 enforcement 2 at each hole. I get it by cutting the wafers to form the border metal out of copper metal foil that is made in finished sheet foil form which is exceedingly strong in proportion to its thickness. I am aware that thin metal foil is 25 Y commonly made by rolling. particularly from wire rod form. But when thin small wafei's' are cut from sheet foil, with internal strains due to" rolling, there is an inherent tendency to curl, making them hard to apply to paper and hold a fiat 30 v form with the paper. A

When the thin wafers for my invention are cut from electrolytically deposited correspondingly thin fiat metal sheets, the wafers tend to lie out fiat with the paper and join with the paper (upon being cemented) with substantially the same fiat effect as if the metal had been deposited directly on the paper (assuming that it would stick) by electrolytic coating means. The 1 advantages which flow from the preferred plan are so important that I point it out in detail with respect to the character and nature of the metal used for my reenforcing wafers. I prefer to use copper foil for these wafers. But in its broader aspect I do not desire to limit my invention to these particu- 45 lar characteristics of the wafer foil metal.

A wafer 2 preferably made as described is applied at each binding hole portion of the sheet as indicated in the drawing. The best arrangement 1- know of is to apply such a wafer on the 5'0 back of the sheet, punch the hole 3 through the paper and wafer at the same time, and leave the front of normal sheet appearance withall holes thus reenforced. Then the book sheets 'will appear in their simplest and customary form from the front, although they will be substantially reenforced at the holes in the back. And the book with the pages of my invention will not be appreciably thicker (to the eye) along the binding margin than if the wafers were not used. The wafer is not in the form of an eyelet but in the form of a flat lamination.

The reason for this novel action of the reenforcements will appear from a consideration of the factors which go into the thickness of a pack of sheets. If a pack, say of one hundred sheets in number, is measured without subjecting it to any compression-that is to say, if the measurement be so taken as to correspond to the thickness of the pack as it appears to the eyeit will be found that the total thickness is considerably more than one hundred times the thickness of a single sheet. This is due to the layer of air entrapped between each pair of sheets and to the minor irregularities by which the sheets depart from absolute flatness, and will be greater after the sheets have been separately handled in use than when they are initially compressed in a pack for sale. These minor irregularities are not of course similar in each sheet, and as the sheets 7 are stacked up for binding these irregularities serve to separate the sheets still farther. In the case taken for example one one-hundredth of the total pack thickness may be taken by definition as the pack forming thickness of the individual sheets; this being made up of two components, one the actual sheet thickness and the other being referred to for convenience as the interspace. It is this interspace that is increased as is described above when the sheets are used, and of course becomes important only when a number of sheets are stacked together. The reason why no substantial visible increase in pack thickness occurs when my novel reenforcements are used is because they are of substantially the same order of thickness as this interspace, and because they tend to lie so fiat in superposition that the pack forming thickness of the sheets at the reinforced areas is substantially the same as the pack forming thickness of the free edge of the sheet.

As pointed out above, the thin metal is very stiff and tough in relation to its thickness, giving the reinforced zones a localized stiffness much greater than the stiffness of the remainder of the sheet. Any bending of the sheet in use therefore, will occur almost exclusively in the unreenforced zone; and any residual distortion of the sheet which would increase its pack forming thickness is thus confined for practical purposes to the body of the sheet exclusive of the reinforced areas. This tends to equalize still further the ef-- fective thickness elsewhere, the reenforced areas tending to lie flat in the slightly irregular surface formed by the body of the sheet. This effect is of course increased by the localization of the reenforcements to areas immediately around the holes, for long reenforced, areas such as a complete marginal reenforcement will tend to be distorte'd as a whole when the sheet is flexed and forcements are extendedthroughout the binding margin of the sheet, the paper will constantly change in length while the metal will not. The result is that the paper will become buckled at the region adjacent its attachment to the metal, and the composite sheet where the metal overlies the paper will receive a decided tendency to curl. By localizing the reenforcements to the immediate region of the holes it is possible to reduce this effect to a point where it has no practical effect. In contrast the localized metallic reenforcements will not appreciably increase the pack forming thickness of the sheet at the binding margin,

while a continuous marginal metallic reenforcement Will under atmospheric conitions differing in any way from those at the time of manufacture increase its pack forming thickness at the binding margin by a very substantial amount.

The relation that my invention attains is a large proportionate increase in'book strength at the binding holes 3 of thin book paper and an entirely negligible proportionate increase in thickness due to the reenforcing means in such paper. This negligible increase in thickness is one that can be measured by scientific instruments but cannot be measured by the eye so as to be objectionable in the appearance of the book.

An important feature I discovered in the ex periments leading up to my invention is the best way to secure the thin metal wafer to the paper, both for convenience and-effect. I coat the wafer with thermo-plastic cement, of which there are many available types on the market. The term thermo-plastic cement is intended to include a plastic like bakelite in uncured form, as such a plastic can be used for my purpose, since it acts like thermo-plastic cement in my use. This is characterized by the fact that it is not sticky but hard at normal temperatures and is sticky and soft at higher temperatures. I coat the wafers with such cement and handle them with the cement in hard form. I lay the wafer on the paper 7 and press it hard against the paper by a presser foot that is heated. The heat conducts through the very thin metal and softens the cement which sticks the metal to the paper. I have found that the heat with this kind of cement causes the latter to penetrate the paper, apparently softening it enough to let the pressure spread the fibers. The result is that there is enough spreading or condensing action on the paper to take up the cement so that the layer of its thickness is not found by scientific measuring instruments after the wafer is applied. Such instruments will measure the cement layer before it strikes into the paper. The result is substantial with regard to using all possible thickness of metal that will not appreciably thicken but will most appreciably strengthen the paper.

I have in my practice used copper wafers of thirteen ten-thousandths of an inch thick with paper of approximately the thickness of the paper ordinarily used for loose leaf books and very slightly over and under, by which I mean ordinary paper for pen and ink writing or typewrltlng paper. Such paper will range in thickness froni say twenty to fifty ten-thousandths of an inch, so that in contrast to prior devices for reenforcing the paper around the ring holes the reenforcement is of less thickness than the paper itself. The total combined thickness of the paper and the reenforcement is slightly greater than the calipered thickness of the paper itself-although not substantially or appreciably greater than the virtual pack forming thickness of the paper as reenforcements of metal foil of suflicient thinheretofore defined-but for reasons previously marginal band paper, and the like.

pointed out the increase will not. be'noticeable to the eye unless the pack of sheets be artificially compressed. The increase of strength at the holes is appreciable to any user but the increase in thickness is not. It is like a thin nickel-plated coating.

The outline of the wafer convenientlyused is shown in Figs. 1 and 3 at each binding hole. Some books do not need the extra strength all around the hole, so the wafer form of Figs. 1 and 3 can be used. It adds strength only on the arc of the pull to tear it loose from a binder. It addssuch a thin layer to the paper that its edge is not apparent to the unaided eye, and such layer edges exist between margins 44, as indicated in Fig. 2, spaced along the length of the paper edge. Fig. 3 also indicates that theedge of the reenforcing layer is not appreciable to the eye, v v

The metal of the wafers is so thin that a pound of metal will divide up and supply a great many sheets. The result is that the thin, inexpensive paper can be reenforced, as I have-described, at the factory, with an exceedingly slight increase in cost, and the reenforced paper sold without appreciable increase in thickness or weight, *for general loose leaf book consumption. It is not limited to' the special class of expensively eyeletted paper, extra thick paper, fabric and metal It has the additional and great advantage of not increasing the thickness of a loose leaf book appreciably when such book is arranged with its most common character of thin paper, the pages of which are arranged in any order desired.

In Fig. 4 I show a type of reenforcement 2 to extend all around its hole.

Having fully pointed out my invention in paper sheets for loose leaf book pages,

I claim:

1. A reenforced loose leaf sheet adapted for use with others to build up a pack for binding, and

having perforations adjacent 'one margin to receive binding prongs; characterized by localized ness so that they would be independently distortable under normal flexing, laminated upon and pressed into adhering contact with thefull body of the sheet adjacent the perforations, the sheet between the reenforcements being. of sub stantially the same flexibility as the body of the sheet, and the reenforcements being sufficiently thin and flat so that when superposed on the full body of the sheet the pack-forming thickness of the sheet at the reenforcements is substantially the same as the pack-forming thickness of the sheet elsewhere, and the normally fiat condition of the reenforcements will not be disturbed by normalflexing of the body of the sheet.

2. The combination in a loose leaf paper sheet with binder holes and no thicker than common book or writing paper, of .perfectly flat metal wafers of small area cemented to the paper to reenforce the holes, said wafers being made of such extremely thin metal that the paper and metal surfaced spots are substantially flush without substantial sinking of the metal into the paper.

foration bordering reenforcements superficially and adherently applied thereto, the reenforced areas on the several sheets being similarly placed and substantially identical in area, each reenforcement being composed of tough and tear-resisting metal having a thickness sufiiciently small so thatthe pack forming thickness at the reenforced margin of the sheet is substantially no greater than the pack forming thickness at the free edge thereof.

5. A pack of perforated loose leaf filler sheets, each of said sheets being of the order of three thousandths-of an inch in thickness and having on its binding margin an adhesively applied series of spaced perforation bordering reenforcements each composed of a wafer of electrolytically deposited copper having a thickness of the order of a thousandth of. an inch, pressed snug'and flat against the'surface of the sheet, and adherently coupled to the sheet by a thermo-plastic cement,

the area of each of said wafers being sufiiciently restricted so that no substantial distortion of the sheet occurs by reason of the differential response of the metal and the paper to variations in atmospheric humidity.

6. A pack of perforated loose leaf flller sheets,

each of said sheets being of the order of threethousandths of an inch in thickness and having a plurality of separated perforationjbordering reenforcements of tough and tear-resisting metal 7 superficially and adherently applied thereto and each localized in the immediate vicinity of a perforation, themetal of each of said reenforce ments having a thickness of the order of a thousandth of an inch,

FRANK STANLEY SCHADE. 

